I didn’t know if I could stomach the blood, chaos, or pressure—so I signed up to be an EMT.

That’s how this whole journey started. I ran calls for multiple towns, mostly to see if I was truly cut out for healthcare / the nurse life —and if I could handle the culture that came with it. Spoiler: I was captivated. I loved the dynamic of always learning and working alongside people who could really teach you a thing or two.

Fast forward a few years. During my final nursing school rotation, I was placed in an emergency department—and ended up being hired straight into that very ER after graduation. That kind of direct transition was rare back then, especially at a Level 1 trauma, teaching hospital. New grads just didn’t start there, which makes sense for patient safety reasons. But also for burn out. If I wasn’t young, with 0 kids and had that fire of wanting to absorb so much from so many different areas of expertise, I don’t think I would have survived. (For instance, if I was to start over now I would be recognizing the many different disadvantages with a family and the lack of experienced nurses that work in the ER nowadays. In addition to the worsening staffing that continues to reek havoc in healthcare.)

Looking back, it was way harder than nursing school—and maybe even harder than my first degree, which had enough chemistry to melt your brain (iykyk). But the challenge was exactly what I needed. It pulled me out of my comfort zone and taught me the most important lesson of my career:

To be a great ER nurse, you have to get comfortable being uncomfortable.

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🔄 The Learning Curve Is Steep—And That’s the Point

There’s no sugarcoating it—those early days were brutal. You don’t walk into the ER knowing how to run a trauma, manage multiple crashing patients, or comfort a mom who just lost her child. You learn by showing up. By watching. By doing.

And most importantly—by asking questions. All the questions.

Yes, even the ones that feel “dumb.”
Actually—especially those.

Because every time you risk sounding clueless, you gain clarity. You gain confidence. And you gain trust—from your team and from yourself.

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💬 Be the Nurse Who Asks, Listens, and Tries

To grow in this field, you have to humble yourself constantly. That means:

• Sitting in with doctors, PAs, APRNs, and seasoned nurses when they explain things to patients—because listening teaches you just as much as doing.
• Telling a patient, “That’s a great question. I’m not sure—but I’ll go find someone who knows.”
• Accepting that you are human, and you will never know it all.
• Utilizing all your resources and specialties provided; Ex: your pharmacists, radiology, charge RN, etc.
• Healthcare is the definition of team sport
  • No one succeeds alone in the ER—not the nurse, not the doctor, not the tech, not the transporter. It often takes a whole team with multiple teammates working in sync just to stabilize one patient.

New nurses often hesitate here. They don’t want to look weak, slow, or unprepared. But guess what? Every expert in that ER was once brand new too.

You don’t build clinical confidence in a classroom—you build it at the bedside.

You try things. You ask for backup. You give yourself grace but also recognize when it’s time to step aside and get help.

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🤍 Final Thoughts: Growth Isn’t Comfortable—But It’s Worth It

If I could go back and tell my younger self anything, it would be this:

You’re not supposed to have it all figured out right now.
But if you keep showing up, asking, and trying—you’ll be someone your team can count on.
And more importantly, you’ll become someone you can count on.

The ER is unpredictable, humbling, and at times—completely overwhelming.
But it’s also one of the most incredible places to grow as a nurse, and as a person.

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💭 Let’s Talk

Have you ever felt this way in your own field—medical or not?
Drop a comment if this resonates, or if you’ve had a “thrown into the fire” kind of experience that shaped who you are. I’d love to hear your story too.